Pain, Pain, Go Away
by lawless523
Summary: The unexpected happens when Riku pats Eiri’s hand and says, “Pain, pain, go away.” Or maybe it’s just what we should expect. Spoiler-ish for Gravitation EX.


_**Pain, Pain, Go Away**_

**Rating: **T, surprisingly enough, for some rude words.

**Summary: **The unexpected happens when Riku pats Eiri's hand and says, "Pain, pain, go away." Or maybe it's just what we should expect.

**Disclaimers:** I don't own the rights to these characters and I don't make any money from them; Maki Murakami, Gentosha, TokyoPop and RightStuf do. I do, however, let them out to play . . . with each other.

**Warnings: **Spoiler-ish for Gravitation EX. For those who don't know already, Riku is Yuki Kitazawa's son. Since his mother is also dead, Kitazawa's brother-turned-sister Yoshiki has custody of him.

The little kid with the round eyes and face who had stared at him during the entire trip from the airport to the cemetery was holding his right hand and patting it, repeating, "Pain, pain, go away."

Eiri, who was familiar with the English nursery rhyme about rain, half expected him to add, "Come again some other day."

He was aghast that Yoshiki not only had insinuated herself into their trip to Yuki Kitazawa's grave, which was meant to demonstrate that Shuichi's love for him had conquered his personal demons, but had also brought Kitazawa's bastard brat with her. She claimed the kid insisted on meeting Shuichi, but he knew better. She had brought him with her to torment him. What other reason could she have for bringing Kitazawa's son and Kitazawa's killer together? Didn't she realize how guilty he felt seeing this little boy who was an orphan because of him?

The voice inside his head said, 'It's not all about you, asshole.' He supposed not, but couldn't everyone be a little more considerate of his feelings? After all, he was already strained to the breaking point due to that brat Shuichi. Yes, he loved him, and wearing the matching ring Shuichi had purchased for him symbolized his commitment to their relationship, as did his making the arrangements for this trip, but it was all suddenly falling apart like a rope hammock left to rot in the rain.

The kid kept patting his hand. Now he'd moved on to the other hand. How cute.

Eiri shook his head helplessly and then rubbed it with his free hand, as if he were trying to obliterate it. He wouldn't mind losing his mind, as long as he could guarantee that he'd be able to retrieve it, as one of those terrible migraines he sometimes experienced was starting to take hold. He knew that by evening he'd barely be able to function, let alone think.

Why wasn't Shuichi coming to his rescue and taking the kid somewhere far away from him? He was much better with kids than Eiri, mainly because he was an overgrown kid himself. He related to them on a basic level.

"Pain, pain, go away," Riku chanted, as if it were a sutra.

Yoshiki and Shuichi looked on, uncertain as to what to do. Yoshiki raised an eyebrow questioningly. Shuichi shrugged his shoulders and wondered what Eiri would do if subjected to much more of this. Clearly Riku could tell the man was in some psychological distress. It was a touching thing the boy was trying to do for him, but Shuichi knew how unwelcome the recipient would find it. Could one little boy - the son of the man he'd killed, at that - take Eiri's pain away?

Eiri, his limit finally reached, proved the answer was no by yanking his hand away and yelling in a hoarse voice, "I _killed_ your father, brat! Why are you trying to comfort me? Go away before I do the same to you!"

Shuichi looked at Yoshiki, and in unspoken agreement they walked over to where Eiri and Riku stood. "Come on," Shuichi said, tugging on Riku's hand. "Leave Yuki alone. He's not feeling very good."

But as Shuichi started to turn away, Riku darted back, and in that stubborn way children have he resumed patting Eiri's right hand and chanted, "Pain, pain, go away."

Maybe it was because of their location, or perhaps there was magic in the young boy's touch, but there was a flash of blinding light and suddenly Eiri was nowhere to be seen. He had vanished.

Riku had wished the pain away.

But even a child's magic isn't strong enough to keep a cranky six-foot-one author away forever. Eiri showed up at their hotel room in time to hear Yoshiki say that she was leaving Riku with them while she completed her gender reassignment surgery. At those words, his migraine, which had disappeared when he did, returned with a vengeance.

* * *

A/N – For artistic reasons, the sequence of events after Riku begins patting Eiri's hand diverges from the manga. Even though the action and dialogue are not the same, however, the intent is.

The question as to which pain Riku was treating – the man suffering the pain or the pain afflicting the man – occurred to me as soon as I read Riku's chant in EX. I wanted to bring out that duality and show that at this point Eiri's so damaged that he's the pain that needs treatment before anyone can deal with the source of his pain. The fact that he disappears temporarily is a bonus.

Thanks as always to my lovely and long-suffering beta HawkClowd.

I hope you enjoyed this little drabble. Please read and review.


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